could go back to 2012, right now, and get the deal president obama offered them a week ago, which only raised about $1.2 trillion in taxes. because here's what i think is going to happen now. if we get a small deal before we go over the fiscal cliff, either because harry reid and mitch mcconnell come to a deal in the senate, or because democrats jam the republicans in congress, it's mostly going to be about extending the bush tax cuts for the middle class, which will mean letting them expire for the rich. that will net somewhere around $600 billion in new tax revenue. the white house will pocket that. they will have got in three quarters of what they wanted last year, before even the negotiations had really kicked off. then we're going to go over the cliff and the pressure will mount quickly to strike another deal. republicans are still going to want entitlement cuts sop the white house will insist that the next deal include a dollar in tax increases for every dollar in spending cuts. so in that next deal, image republicans want $800 billion in spending cuts, a number of they've kicked